Location: Wilmer Park

October 06, 2015

On September 26, 2015, in collaboration with Chestertown RiverArts, the Center for Environment and Society, and SANDBOX initiative, the annual Chestertown Waterfront Festival became RiverFest! The celebration took place at Wilmer Park with the scenic backdrop of the Chester River and plenty of events to entertain students and their families during Fall Family Weekend.

The annual Waterfront Festival in Chestertown is always a day full of excitement, family visits, and friendly competition, and this year did not disappoint! The event lived up to its new name and took the celebration of the Chester River to new heights, featuring a floating sculpture, the traditional cardboard boat race, numerous kayak races, a painting competition, and even a truck full of live Chesapeake Bay animals.

Running all day the Saturday of Washington College’s Fall Family Weekend, RiverFest kicked off the festivities with a live band at Wilmer Park. Vendors, including a Kilby Cream ice cream truck all the way from Cecil County, Philips Warf Fish Mobile–the moveable container for live bay animals mentioned above–a Sun, Sail, and Paddle exhibition featuring small watercraft, and a bouncy house were all available for participants throughout the afternoon as well as the scheduled races.

The RiverArts Poker Run made participants paddle to five buoys stationed around the river, each containing an envelope with a playing card inside. After each team collected their cards, teams compared hands to determine the winner of a cash prize. At three o’clock, the cardboard boat race began and did not fail to entertain, providing spectators with both the satisfaction of seeing the last boat floating and watching teams swim alongside their sunken creations. Thankfully, all participants were great sports and laughed off their boats’ collapses.

New this year was the floating sculpture displayed at the waterfront by the Fish Whistle. The sculpture, created by artists Vicco and Jacquie von Voss with the help of Zane Carter and Ed Minch, was solar powered ad designed to illuminate the Chester as the sun set, beautiful in its simplicity and organic material.

The festival also included two public sails of the Sultana, numerous kayak races for 12ft kayaks, over 12ft kayaks, and tandem kayaks and canoes as well as a cruise on the CES private research vessel the Callinectes.